A House Full of Brothers

Chapter 18

  School was dreadfully long, as usual. To make matters even worse, Blake and I had another World Studies project. Blake was excited though, saying that we now had an excuse to hang out. After begging and pouting, I was allowed to have Blake over, but Kyle was gonna be monitoring. So here we are, in my room, and it's me doing all the work while Blake whines.

  "Blake, focus!" I scolded him while he stared at the fish which still went without names.

"But it's boring!" He whined and collapsed onto my bed.

"Kyle!" I yelled to my best friend who was lazily scrolling through his phone. He hummed in reply. "Fix him!" I yelled. Kyle chuckled and Blake feigned hurt.

"No can do, Bee." Kyle had a smile on his face and continued tapping away.

"Fine." Blake sighed, giving in. I smiled in victory and gave him a half-hearted hug.

He began to draw lines, connecting certain events to others while I wrote how they were related.

It was oddly quiet and I didn't like it.

"You know what you should do?" I asked Blake nonchalantly. He quirked a brow but continued drawing lines.

"What, Princess?" The nickname rolled off of his tongue so smoothly and though we were both relaxed and calm on the outside, I was giddy and jumpy on the inside.

"You should play a sport." I continued writing but he stopped. Eventually I followed suit so we could both just stare at each other.

"Why would I do that? What would I even play?" He asked, confused.

"I don't know, I think you'd be good at it. You're strong so you could probably tackle people, right?" I cocked my head to the side.

"Probably, but sports never seemed too exciting to me." He shrugged and picked up the ruler and marker.

"Then, you could be a model!" I chirped. He chuckled and shook his head at my excitement.

"Like you suggested when you were drunk?" He teased.

"Don't bring that up!" I pointed my finger at him and gave him a glare which apparently wasn't very intimidating since he laughed.

"Just being honest." He smiled. "Why would I be a model?" He inquired.

"I'm sure my drunk self told you why." I folded my arms in defiance for him teasing me.

"Don't be sad." He laughed and I just continued to stare at him but I still ended up answering him.

"You have a good face, a good body, and strong features in general, and you're really confident and cocky so." I shrugged and he let out a light laugh and drew another line.

"If you do it with me, I'll give it a try." He tested how far I'd go for this. He smirked, thinking he had gotten out of it.

"Fine. They'll just dismiss me and hire you so nothing will affect me." I began to write the explanations again.

"If you think that, you then you'll be in for a treat, Princess." This time I actually let out a giggle at the nickname, but his statement was not left unnoticed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What have I been telling you since I saw you?" He questioned but I still looked like a lost puppy. He sighed and rubbed his temples,
"You're hot."

"Oh," I nodded my head in realization, "I'm hot to an 18 year old boy, I have to be hot to everyone. Besides, I'm 16 so it'll have to be for just normal clothes. And for clothing companies they go after tall skinny girls with 'flat chests, flat butts, and flat guts'." I quoted what my mom used to say about the industry she once worked in.

"Fine. I'll try it," He began and I already started to clap victoriously but he had more to say, "but you have to try it when you're 18. You have to. Even if we break up, even if I go to jail, if I die, whatever happens, you have to." He raised his eyebrows to test me.

I bit my lip in thought but the excitement of him possibly becoming a model won me over, so I nodded my head.

"You're actually gonna agree to that?" Kyle piped in.

"She wants me to be a model, I want her to be a model." Blake answered for me. Kyle laughed and shook his head and once again went back to his phone.

"What are you so invested in?" I jumped onto my bed and rested my chin on Kyle's chest so I could look at his screen. "Is it a girl?"

"Yes, actually." He nodded.

"Ooh! Does she go to our school? What's her name? How long have you known her?" I asked all questions that had popped into my head.

"Yes, Isabella, and only a few days so don't get your hopes up." He laughed. I was about to ask more questions but I felt two warm hands grip my hips and lift me off of the bed.

"You made me work, I'm gonna make you work." Blake pointed to the project on the ground. I pouted like a child. "Nuh-uh, don't pout, just write. I finished my part." He gave me a fake glare.

"Can you help me?" I gave an over-enthusiastic smile. "Please? This is harder than drawing lines." I narrowed my eyes and he groaned, knowing I was right.

The next ten minutes were spent writing connections and very little conversation but it was perfect.

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